It is interesting to watch the different ways that the kiddos communicate. For example, last night Madi decided to “read” books to Ben before bed instead of having books read to her. What cracked me up about it is that while she didn’t get the words exactly right, every line of the book rhymed. She does this too with her made up songs; she will run around the house singing “What a happy day…it is time to play…this is what I say…” or whatever strikes her fancy. I think it partially comes from the Super Why character “Wonder Red” who helps solve their super big problem by coming up with rhyming words.
As for Parker, he really wants to communicate, and tries to do so in any way he can. Tonight we did a webcam visit with my parents, and he stood right in front of the camera and jabbered away for quite a while, even though it wasn’t understandable. The inflection, emphasis and passion are there, just not the actual English words. He has also been using his non-verbal communication more pointedly lately, whether it is sitting down and pounding the spot next to him saying “mama” until I sit down, or yanking my shirt to get me to stand up and come with him somewhere. He’s pretty effective, actually and once he hits his stride with words, there will be no stopping him. He will want to compete with Madi, of course, and will try to out-talk her at every turn. I can already see it now.
It is such a huge responsibility to make sure that we are teaching them the right ways to communicate. Habits that they form now will probably stick around for a while. One example that comes to mind is with Madi and her tendency to lash out when things aren’t exactly the way she wants them to be. We have been trying to focus on speaking kindly and saying instead that she doesn’t “prefer” whatever she dislikes, and not crying about it. So the other day, she put this into action. I told her what we are having for dinner – I can’t even remember what it was – but she very politely said, “I don’t prefer to eat that for dinner…I want macaroni and cheese”.
Hmmm…not really the outcome I intended, but the process is right!
